Testing of the latest available code is paramount to the reliability and trustworthiness of the code. In some testing environments, builds of the source code are performed daily to enable the latest available code to be tested. However, an issue arises when a build includes drivers that require signatures.
In particular, various drivers, such as plug and play (PnP) drivers, offered by Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash., have a requirement that they be certified by Microsoft®, when they are installed. (Microsoft® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.) To obtain certification by Microsoft®, a vendor uploads files of the driver to a Microsoft® website, signs various agreements and downloads a signed catalog file. This takes a day or more. This is required each time the driver is rebuilt, which may be on a daily basis during the development cycle.
Since a PnP driver needs to be signed each time it is rebuilt, testing of the latest code is delayed by a day or more. Further, the daily build and/or test requires human intervention, and thus, cannot be fully automated.